


Decapitation for Dummies

by easternCriminal



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen, Headlessness, eventually, light gore, light jack/signe, light mark/amy, refs to wkm eventually, very friendship focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-03-20 14:59:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13720134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easternCriminal/pseuds/easternCriminal
Summary: 'The Forest, despite what you may be told, is not a gentle creature. It is not a source of calm, of compassion. The Forest is a beast, and when you enter it you enter it’s maw'Mark wants to get home, Jack wants to have his head attached to his body.





	1. everyBody Beware (Mark)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I'm giving writing a try again! I'm hoping to give this a try, and see where it takes us! I hope you enjoy the ride with me :) 
> 
> Enjoy the read!

The Forest, despite what you may be told, is not a gentle creature. It is not a source of calm, of compassion. The Forest is a beast, and when you enter it you enter it’s maw, the branches of trees are its’ teeth, the the rushing rivers trying to wash you down to die in its’ heart. People mistake The Forest with a forest. A forest is peaceful and quiet, you sit and have a picnic. You rest. 

The Forest is where magics dark secrets are kept. The shadows pool and the light is choked out by the overhead leaves. Magic artifacts without name, cursed swords and enchanted cloaks lie hidden under the brush, and if all was well, would stay hidden forever. A few mages succeeded in taming the beast, quelling it’s malicious nature to accommodate for paths and existence. But do not be fooled. 

For if you are not wary, The Forest will swallow you.

oOo

“You think this will work?” The man with the dark hair looked down at his companion, who was currently resting on top of a rock, a plaid jacket bundled underneath him in order to cushion the neck stump.

“I don’t really see how we have an options, Mark. Hopefully it won’t erase me from existence or something.” 

“Don’t - Jack I didn’t even think of that and now I don’t want to do this.” Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair. The other was curled around a small bottle of… something. The liquid was a vibrant orange and just looking at it hurt as it depicted a thousand walked trails, a million paths taken. The witch had needed a certain kind of flower in order to make it, and that flower in turn (at least on this side of the world) only happened to grow in a certain wizards garden who in turn had wanted them to get the silk of a giant spider hiding in the cave north of there, and then in order to convince the spider to give them her silk they had to… well they had gone through a lot to get this. It had been a long couple of days, and Mark’s phone had died, let's be honest, about three hours into the journey, before he had even run into, well, almost walked on top of Jack. 

“Come on, Mark, no time like the present.” Jack opened and closed his mouth a few times.   
“Stop it, you look like a baby bird.”

“Cheep cheep.” Mark rolled his eyes before uncorking the bottle, a thin white mist coming off it. 

“Ooooooof, I’m warning you right now it’s pretty ripe. I recommend not breathing through your nose.” Mark adjusted Jack’s position, tilting the disembodied head back a little. “Bottoms up.” 

Mark carefully lifted the bottle up to Jack’s mouth and swiftly tilted his head back. Immediately after giving a big gulp, Jack’s face screwed up in disgust, gagging slightly.

“Oh, that was the worst thing ever. Good heavens.” Jack smacked his lips together a bit, as if trying to diffuse the taste out of his mouth. There was a moment of pause before a soft orange light lifted from Jack’s head, almost like a halo, before zooming off in to the distance, leaving a lingering, softly glowing trail in its wake. Mark gave a low whistle.

“Impressive. Looks like we can finally make progress now.” Mark bent over and picked up the head, carefully making sure that the jacket was still covering the exposed and oozing neck. “Let’s bounce.” Jack was still smacking his lips.

“I’m not going to say any part of that was worth it until I have my body.” The progress was swift, Mark’s feet light in anticipation. The past few days had been rough, coming into this forest in the first place had been a mistake. They were lucky that they had run into nice people who were willing to feed them. Despite Jack’s predicament, he did need to eat as well. Mark didn’t really question where the food went, he didn’t really want to know. But he did know that that was two mouth to feed and if it hadn’t been for the hospitality of several people the past fwe days would have been even rougher. 

The orange trail wound through the forest. Eventually they came upon what could only have been where Jack’s body initially landed after he had been separated from it, rolling down a hill. There was an impact site and signs of moving around, probably before Jack had decided to just stay in one place. Before someone or something had bound his arms and legs together and taken his body away. 

They were both still worried, but thus nothing had actually hurt Jack’s body, which was hopefully a good sign. Every now and then, especially right after Jack had felt his body get dragged away, Jack would tense as someone poked and prodded his arms and legs.

Overall, if Mark thought about it, it was pretty weird. 

“Well, that doesn’t look foreboding at all.” The orange trail led through the front door of what looked like a house but was…  _ really _ obviously a facade. From their position, slightly off center, you could see the supports holding it up. It was maybe a little ornate, whoever had made it had obviously put effort into it. It was like the front of a theater. Nto an actualy one but like the one’s you would see in the movie in the middle of a bustling city. In illuminated letter were only two words: 

Cranium Burster

“This looks like a trap.”

“Well I’d love to see it then.” Jack replied, and MArk adjust his hold on the head, angling it upwards enough so that Jack could see the entire scene. 

“We’re screwed. If this was for anything less than literally all of my body I’d say now is the time to turn around.” 

“Probably too late for that.” Mark replied. “Look, I don’t know what’s beyond here, but with a name like Cranium Burster I doubt it’s anything good. If it comes down to it I’m going to drop you in some corner. I can’t fight anything holding you.” 

“Fair enough, just don’t chuck me, I don’t fancy the idea of my head being cracked on a rock like a raw egg.” 

“No promises.” Mark smiled before schooling his expression, reaching apprehensively for the door.

Instantly as the door was cracked open a cacophony of noise rose out. The inside looked nothing in the slightest like the outside. It was a theater or a stadium. Fairly small, but filled with people of all sorts, laughing and shouting at something on the stage. Which was right where the trail went. Mark and Jack exchanged a brief glance before finding an end seat for themselves on one of the rows, being sure to close the door behind them. Best to access the situation first. 

Doing his best not to stare at the shouting women next to him (more specifically her pointed ears) Mark focused in on the stage, where the trail disappeared behind one of the side curtains. On the stage were several different… people? He wasn’t really sure what they were. One was gray and decaying looking, the other with smooth and an expressionless face. A mannequin, he realized. Both of the figures had blue strings coming off of them, leading to somewhere above where they were on stage, currently enacting some kind of scene.

“...and I’ll end you, my brothers sister dogs cousin twice removed.” The mannequin pulled out a sword from his side. “A few slices and you will consider yourself thrice removed!” 

Another loud bought of laughter filled the room and several shouts as the crowd ate up the entertainment. Held carefully in his lap, Mark felt Jack suck in air suddenly. 

“ _ Mark _ .” He whispered, eyes wide.

“ _ What?”  _

“ _ I can’t feel my body.”  _ Marks hands tightened their grip on the head before forcing them to relax. It would do no good to squash Jack.

“ _ What do you mean you can’t feel your body?!”  _ The pointed eared women shot them a harsh glare from the side of her eye. Mark leaned closer to Jacks head.

“ _ I mean that-”  _ Suddenly there was an uproar from the crowd and Mark looked up. People were on their feet, and he hastily turned his attention back to the stage. Another contender had come on, weilding a sword of their own.

“I’m sorry cousin, but this time it is I who will be removing you from the family. Just like how you removed my head!” There, on stage, thin blue strands coming off of him, was Jacks body.

Mark didn’t think, he dashed down the aisle, wind in his ears. He was suddenly so… so angry. He didn’t even know where it was coming from. He had known Jack for only a few days, but seeing his body like that, being puppeted around. Red smeared his vision, bathing everything he saw in this, this anger that rose up from a place deep inside of him. 

Dimly, he was aware of Jack, his head still cradled in his arms, yelling at him. Of people in the aisles staring at him as he made his progress towards the stage, but it took a backseat.

As soon as he crossed the line from the stairs to the stage blue runes lit up, and across the front aisle half a dozen mannequins sprang to life, rushing at Mark. The ‘actors’ on stage (the grey one which he could now see was a dead decaying corpse) also completely stopped their performance, turning towards Mark.

“Mark, for God’s sake think for a second!” Mark placed Jack’s head on the ground and reached back for his lead pipe, bringing it up to face the mannequin, the dead body, and Jack’s body. 

“Let go of him.” He snarled, turned to knock over a few of the mannequins who had been creeping up behind him from the front aisle. He let the other opponent advance on him on their own, staying protectively over Jack. 

The pipe held up fine as he deflected a sword. The crowd behind him was loud, the raucous noise adding to the blood pumping in his ears. 

“Mark, watch out!” Mark turned to his left to see a flash of steel as the dead body began to swing it’s sword, just as one of the mannequins knocked his pipe out of his hands in his moment of shock. He raised his arms defensively over his head and prepared himself for the blow.  _ Stupidstupidstupid what was i thinking i wasnt thinking why wasnt i thinking again just like last time. _

_... _

_ what last time? _

“Enough!!!!” There was the sound of the curtains falling over the the other half of the stage, and instantly all noise from the audience was gone. Mark hesitantly opened his eyes and lowered his arms to see standing over him the dead body, sword only a few inches from his arms.

All of the mannequins were stopped in motion, the blue strands of light on them pulled taught, seeming to follow some figure above them, whoever had yelled, as they made their progress down a set of stairs, mostly hidden on the side of the stage. 

“If you don’t like the show there are better ways to show it.” The man walked into the light, frowning slightly. He looks to be about Marks age, mid twenties or so, with short cut brownish hair. His hands were held out in front of him, fingers tensed up, blue strands connecting them to the different mannequins. 

“Sorry about the security, they act on their own when someone comes on stage.” He waved his hands and the blue strands broke apart, disappearing into the air as the different mannequins and the dead body limply fell to the ground. From below him Mark heard Jack gasp a little as he watched his body hit the floor. 

“Why did you take Jack’s body? What is this horror show?” Mark gestured mostly at the dead body that now lay at the ground next to him. 

“It’s… it’s a play. I feel like that was fairly obvious. I mean not my best work but it’s a Wednesday. I save the good one’s for the weekend.”

“So does that make you Cranium Burster?” 

“Cranbersher, please. Or better yet Oliver.” He gave a small smile and a blue tendril leapt from his hand. The hand of one of the mannequins waved. Oliver’s eyes darted down to the head slightly behind Mark and grimaced. “I see.”

“What were ye doing with my body?!” Jack shouted, his body struggling to lift itself off the ground on shaky legs. 

“I thought it was dead? Or mostly dead. My specialty is kind of reanimation of corpses and nervous systems, I was hoping that I could find out how the body could move without threads.” He sent out a few tendrils again. “They look so messy on stage.”

“Well you can’t keep it-”

“Obviously.” Oliver rolled his eyes. “Look I didn’t know that there was a head that went to it. If I did I wouldn’t have touched it.” Jack’s body finally managed to get up and walk over to Jack’s head, picking it up and holding it in his arms. Oliver frowned. 

“Let me make it up to you. I don’t know what cursed you and made you like that, but it can’t be comfortable. I have a friend who’s good at piecing things back together.” He waved his hand and threads sprung from it as a mannequin from off stage rushed forward holding a map and a few bags.

“I can’t guarantee that Steff can help you out, but she’s a good place to start.”


	2. Nitty Gritty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bit on an in between chapter, presenting Gritty Sugar

“So… how did you get like, well, you know.” Jack tensed up a little, the grip he had on his head tightening a little. Mark was in charge of the map since he had free hands. They had ended up spending the rest of the day at Cranbersher’s. He wasn’t the first magician Jack had run into in the forest, but definitely a noteworthy one. Jack was no expert, but he couldn’t imagine that the ability to control nervous systems and easily manipulate and create pocket spaces was a passe ability. 

They spent the night in a guest room of his, thankfully in an actual physical cottage that Oliver owned. The idea of sleeping in a pocket space was unnerving to Jack, like it might disappear at any given moment. He had enough problem right now, being stuck in a box in between realities was not how he wanted to go.

“Jack?” Oh. Right. 

“A mistake. I went around touching things I shouldn’t have.” Jack carefully passed his head to just one arm while the other searched his pockets. “Ah, here it is.” He withdrew a knife from his inside jacket pocket, the blade bloodstained. “I’m pretty sure it has to do with this. I’m hoping this will help Cranbershers’ friend with putting me back together.” Mark gave a laugh.

“A regular old humpty dumpty.” Mark gestured to his backpack. “Do you want me to hold onto that for you?”

“Nah, I think I’d rather hold onto it for now.” His hand fumbled around his jacket until he managed to awkwardly get it back in the jacket. Jack situated his head back between both of his hands. “We never really talked about it, why are you here, Mark?” 

There was a moment of silence, one that seemed to stretch on for a small eternity, before Mark finally opened his mouth.

“The truth is-”

“Oh, hello.” Standing outside of a small cottage in front of them was a girl wearing a long  cloak reminiscent of the one that Oliver had been wearing last night. It looked like she was carrying some firewood into her house, which would have been a pretty normal thing to do in there wasn’t a separate pair of hands than her own floating in the air carrying their own load of wood. “You must be the boys Oliver mentioned.” Another floating hand rose from her satchel and opened the door to the cottage. “Come inside and let’s take a look at you.”

The girl, who Jack assumed was Steff, went straight through the door without looking back. Mark and Jack exchanged a quick look with each other, Mark frowning slightly and Jack trying for an assuring smile. He was pretty sure he fell a little short. They entered the cottage. 

Every single surface was covering with books and herbs and potions. Things boiling and steaming, other things that were solid blocks of ice. In the back of the house was a wall, completely covered in different sizes of… of limbs. Jack shuddered a little and held onto his head even tighter. 

Of course Jack had considered that it was all some kind of trap. Maybe Cranbersher was evil? And this other magician was incahoots with him? Maybe they were connected to that… that monster that had done this to him in the first place. He did recall that it also wore a long flowing cloak…

“I’m glad you made it safely.” Steff commented as she began looking through some books lying on a table in the back of the room, near the lined up cadavers. “Most people have trouble traversing the woods.” She glanced back at the duo, specifically at Jack, who was quite noticeably, holding his own head in his hands. “... I guess you two have already had quite some trouble.”

“I’ve definitely had my fill.” Jack agreed, doing his best to trust this woman. He refused to just become jaded about every person they met, but maybe if he could just make sure she didn’t have a similar symbol on her…

“Me too.”

“Hey, you have your head!” Jack retorted. Mark actually gave a small chuckle at that. Steff came back to their side of the house, gesturing for Jack to take a seat. 

“I see why Oliver sent you my way, I kind of specialize in moving limbs.”

“Yeah, I was gonna ask about that.” Mark replied, eyes wandering over to the wall. “What’s up with both of you and dead stuff?”

“We both had similar mentors.” She replied, her body language suddenly becoming very closed off. “Now let me see here.” Steff had a few different color labeled bottles that she had set on a coffee table in the room. She glanced a few times at the severed stump of a neck and back over to her supplies, every now and then consulting one of her books. “We’ll start off with the assumption that this is similar to what I do.” 

She spread out her hands, and in circles around them assorted runes appeared, glowing a magenta color. The runs seeped into her hands, causing them to remain glowing as she picked up Jack’s head and carefully set it on his shoulders. She muttered a few words before releasing his head. Which promptly fell back into his lap. 

“Heh, how’s it going down there?” Mark chuckled.

“Shut up.”

“Well apparently not. If it’s not similar to my spells than it’ll be easier to deal with if we can see a layout of the actual spell. Then we can pick apart what components are preventing me from reconnecting your head to your neck.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Jack replied as he straightened up his head. He didn’t really know much about spells, but figuring out what exactly was going on seemed like a good place to start as any. 

“It’ll take me a couple of days to prep the spell.” She got up and moved to the back section of the house. “You two should be fine to go out and get me a few things though.” Steff began moving the furniture in the back, flicking her wrist as a few different appendages came to life, bustling around. One pair of hands went to the counter and picked up a pencil and a pad of paper, jotting things down. 

“Why so long?” Mark asked, carefully maneuvering himself out of the way as a table was pushed up against a wall. 

“Good, assurate spells take time. It’s tricky business giving spells a physical form, and if I don’t put up the right barriers something could go wrong, like your friend bleeding out.”

“Don’t listen to Mark,” Jack harshly elbowed him. “...take as much time as you need.” Mark elbowed Jack back and Jack lost his hold on his head, sending it toppling onto the floor. A pair of hands quickly came over and picked it up, handing it back to him.

“I have a garden in the back, a little ways away.” The pair of hands gave Mark a list of different plants. “Stick to the path. I’m not joking here boys. The path is safe and guarded. But the second you step off of that path I can’t promise you’ll come back.”

“Comforting.” Mark muttered as he folded up the list and put it in his pocket.

“Try to be quick, the sooner you get back the sooner I can start the preparations.” Steff turned back to the now open space of floor, a book propped open and a piece chalk in one of her hands. 

The two boys exitted the house, a disembodied hand pushing them out out before slamming the door harshly behind them. Jack just stood there for a second, blinking, back in the daylight. 

“It’s been…. Quite a few a few days, huh?” Jack deliberately took her head into his hands and moved it up in down in the best nodding motion he could manage. 

“You could say that a couple dozen more times.” The two began walking around to behind the cabin, where sure enough there was a small trail, mostly dirt but with bricks inlaid in the ground on either side of it with runes carved into them. “I know you hardly know me Mark, but I’m glad you’re helping me out with all this mess.”

“Not like I know how to get out of this forest at this point.” Mark replied. The further they traveled the path the darker it seemed to become, the runes glowing faintly. Every now and then there would be a rustling from the somewhere, beyond the path. Jack would see Mark’s head shoot to the side, while he carefully kept his own eyes steady ahead. 

“Once we pop my head back on, we’ll find a way out of here.” Jack promised as they entered a small clearing. There was a a break in the trees above, opening up to shine beams of light down onto the colorful garden, the runed bricks laid out around the clearing. Mark straightened out the small piece of paper. 

“Alright, I’m not even going to try to say these names.” Mark folded over the piece of paper a few times, licked the seam once, and then tore the paper in half, handing Jack a piece. “Here, tell me if you need any help.” Mark began walking around the rather large garden area, muttering under his breath as he looked from his paper to the clumps of plants. They were labeled, but haphazardly organized. 

Jack focused on glancing at his own list while still holding his head. It looked like Mark had given him the bottom half, which didn’t have as many plants. Jack’s face loosened into an easy smile. 

“Could be anywhere…” Jack mumbled to himself as he looked down at his list and back up to the rows upon rows of plants. This was going to take some time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! I hope you liked it, I know it's a little bit slower of a chapter, but we're doing some setting up :D


	3. Whispers in the Woods - Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack collect some plants for Steff

Chapter 3

 

Mark glanced up again. Jack was safely on the other side of the garden, busying himself with his half of the list. Mark bit his lip as he looked in front of him. He had been trying to grab the wolfsbane, but each time he plucked a piece it instantly died in his fingertips. Using slow movements, to make sure he didn’t attract Jack’s attention, he unwrapped his plaid jacket from around his hips - he needed to remember to ask Steff if she could help him clean it - and put it over his hand as he reached once again to grab some. 

When it stayed perfectly healthy, he let out a slow breath he hadn’t remembered holding in. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he figured that it couldn’t be good. But it also couldn’t be more important than Jack’s predicament. Maybe after he finished helping Jack he could ask Steff for help, but it didn’t feel right to put his bizarre sudden problem until then. 

He finished up his half of the list somewhat easily, every now and then glancing at the forest as it made rustling noises. Both him and Jack had learned the hard way that those kind of sounds are best left alone. Luckily they had gotten out with only a few scratches. He ended up having to help Jack with the rest of his list as the boy was having difficulty looking at the list and picking the plants while holding his head with one hand. 

“That’s all she needed, right?” Mark had all the plants held carefully in his plaid shirt - he had deflected Jack’s questioning look by saying that he didn’t know if any of the plants were poisonous to the touch.

“You had the list” Jack replied.

“Fair enough” Mark amended. He walked back to the main path, letting Jack follow at his own rate - he was slower, his condition making it harder to coordinate or something. “At least this will point us in the right direction, right?” There was no reply. “Right?” He called a little louder. “Come on Jack, what’s with the silent treatment?” Mark turned around to look at the boy. Jack wasn’t facing forward, his eyes trained on the forest to the side of the carefully laid path, seeming lost in thought. Not glazed over, but searching. Jack moved one foot towards the forest, heading to the darkened -

“Woah, not today buddy.” Mark snagged the back of Jack’s shirt collar, the sudden pull back spilling some of the blood onto Mark’s hand. He heard Jack give a little gasp, and his feet clumsily righted himself. 

“I-”

“What the heck was that?” Mark questioned. Jack wasn’t looking at him, his eyes still wandering off to the side. 

“I thought I heard something.”

“Jack...we’re so close to getting your head back on don’t go losing it now.” Jack laughed, but it was a moment before he slowly tore his eyes away from the forest. Mark did his best to repress his frown, lightly tapping Jack’s shoulder and allowing his companion to lead the way instead. He spared a glance at the forest, eyebrows tightly knitted together.

oOo

“These are perfect.” Steff was already organizing the plants, placing some of them in bowls, others next to a cutting board, and had already picked up a mortar and pestle, crushing a few together into a paste. “Like I mentioned earlier, this’ll take about two days to finish up prepping, so the two of you will have to sit tight until then.” She gestured to a separate offshoot room that definitely had not been there before. “Oliver helped me get some sleeping arrangements ready for you two.” Mark looked to see that Jack’s face had gone white.

“You mean we’ll be sleeping in… in a pocket space?” Mark rolled his eyes and gave Jack a strong pat on the back, causing Jack to almost drop his own head. 

“Don’t you trust Oliver?”

“I barely know Oliver.” Jack deadpanned, glaring at the pocket space room. 

“So what are we supposed to do until then?” Mark asked. 

“Well for most of the second day I’ll need Jack with me, but as for now you two do as you please as long as you stay within the protective runes.” Another hand sprung to life and began taking notes, while one got to work on chopping up some of the plants. “If you get bored, I have some chores you can do for me. Consider it your payment.”

Mark once again took the list.

“Thanks…”

The day was mostly over, and Mark and Jack only had enough time to look around the yard a bit, take note of a few of the abnormalities, heard a flock of crows take off, and chop up some firewood before it was too dark and Steff called them inside. Despite the fact that Steff never really paused in her preparation, there were two steaming bowls of stew ready for them. Jack went to sleep surprisingly quickly for being afraid of pocket spaces. Mark stayed awake, staring at the ceiling above, gazing at the nothingness between the boards above him. Steff worked well into the night. Once or twice Mark considered getting up and helping her, talking to her. She seemed… she seemed sad, somehow. But his mind flashed to the dead plants, held between his numb fingers, and stayed where he was. 

oOo

Steff was already a day ahead, and kept Jack with her the following morning. Apparently her work deep into the thick of the night had paid off. Mark chopped wood in the front, assisted by a pair of floating hands. By noon the hands stopped him and brought out a lunch for him, but kept him from entering the house. He sulked over his ham and cheese sandwich in the front. Curiosity got the better of him and he eventually followed one of the trails Steff had laid out, not the one to the garden, but one of the several that branched out from the central small yard. 

It was still midday, the sun shining brightly, but once again it seemed as though the further he traversed, the thicker the shadows became. Once again the trail opened up to a small clearing, but this one was… it was obviously different. The only thing in the small clearing were rounded mounds of dirt, grass mostly grown over them, and tombstones at the head of each one. 

Mark stiffened. It felt like they were all looking up at him, at the odd intruder that had come upon this small grave site. Carefully Mark continued, looking up and down the aisles. There weren’t a ton of them, probably around ten, all in neat little rows. Mark walked softly, as if afraid to wake the dead that lay underfoot. Placed at the foot of each of the gravestones was a small wilted bouquet of flowers, each one individualized for each grave. 

It took Mark a moment to recognize the symbol that was engraved on each stone - the same symbol that had been on Steffs cloak, and by extension Olivers’. Mark hastily turned around to leave, such a sorrowful and almost intimate scene… he knew this wasn’t his place to be.

“ _ Mark…”  _ He whipped around, his heart suddenly going into overdrive, panic seizing him despite himself, coming from almost out of nowhere. He looked around the gravesite, and suddenly all logical thought was gone as he caught a glimpse of red from behind some trees. It was her. He didn’t know how he knew but he just did. It was her. She was here. He moved without thinking, rushing to the woods, treading over the graves with desperation. 

“C̛҉E̶̢̧L̸I̵̡N̡͞͞҉E͢͞!” The word sprung from his mouth, but as soon as it left he couldn’t recall, couldn’t remember it, just knew that it had been flung out. Suddenly he felt a harsh slap on his face and stopped short to see one of the disembodied hands floating in the air in front of him, wagging it’s finger at him. 

“Oh, uh…” He took a glance at the forest, but whatever he had seen was gone, and now that he was retracing his thoughts, he found he wasn’t sure what had pulled him so viciously towards the dark. The hand began making attempts to pull him back in the direction of the cabin, and Mark was more than willing to comply. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked the chapter! Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> you can find my art and stuff for the fic over on my art tumblr:
> 
> the-east-art.tumblr.com


	4. Runetastic (Jack)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I used the word rune more in this one chapter than my entire life

 

“If you could just try to get some of that firewood chopped, that would be ideal.” Steff handed Mark a list of things to do while Jack continued to wash his hair in the sink. Mark had been up far earlier than him and was already prepared for the day. Apparently Steff had worked all through the night to get ahead (heh) so Jack would have to stay inside.

“You sure have a lot of of wood.” Mark commented as he took the piece of paper, folding it up to put away in his pocket.. 

“It’s from a specific kind of tree, really one of the only types of woods that can be used in enchanting fires. I just kind of store it for everyone.” She gave a small shrug, looking tired, but also determined as she double checked the circle of runes she had drawn at some point yesterday. Mark nodded and Jack knew he was pretending to understand what any of any of this meant. 

Mark left, pretty much banished from the cabin, while Jack dried his hair. It was hard to work his hands and body correctly like this, kind of like when you try to move your hands solely while looking at your reflection in a mirror, but he was starting to get the hang of it. 

“Tell me when you’re done waking up.” Steff called as she rearranged a few things. A few hands were floating around, adjusting things here and there. 

“I’m pretty good now that I don’t feel so gross.” Jack replied, picking back up his head. 

“If you’ll just have a seat on top of the coffee table.” She gestured over and instantly three hands shoved everything  off the table, one even patting it a few times in a ‘come and sit here so we can possibly kill you’ kind of motion. Jack shook his head. Steff had been nothing but nice to them thus far. 

“Take your jacket off.” 

“I-”

“Look it won’t take long. I promise.” Jack obliged, shedding his jacket and putting it off to the side. 

“Alright, let’s see here.” She paused a second before grabbing Jack’s head, and when Jack did the best nod he could in his state she picked him and began carefully detailing a few runes around his neck before putting his head back down and doing the same to the neck stump on his body. 

“There - you’ll have to wait to put the jacket back on, I don’t want it to rub against any of the runes because if I retrace those I might have to redo just about everything.” She ordered and Jack was more than happy to oblige. “Now if I could just get you to sit in the center of the circle we can finish up runeing and syncing everything up.”

Mark wasn’t the only one that pretended to understand what magicians talked about. 

Steff was quiet while she worked, Jack just sitting cross legged in the middle of the array. At least she had given him a pillow to sit on. After about half an hour of semi tense silence, Jack spoke up. 

“So… how long have you been doing magic?”

“A while.” Jack shifted at her curt response. Let the awkwardness fill the air for a moment. 

“Uhhhh...how do you know Oliver?” Jack tried instead, and for a moment he didn’t think she was going to respond at all. Then she took a deep breath and sat back on the balls of her feet, sparing a moment to look Jack in the eyes. 

“We have lots of background together.” She replied, returning back to her work, adding marks every now and then, rearranging several bowls of ingredients, lighting a few candles on the circle. Jack busied himself with staring at the limbs that decorated the wall, counting how many hands there were, how many feet (which he had yet to really seen be used) the single fingers, the entire arms…

“Our teachers we’re part of the same coven.” Jack jumped a little, looking over at Steff who was still focusing on washing off and rewriting some of the runes. 

“What?”

“Me and Oliver. Some others too. It was mostly necromantic, dark magics. They were fighting another coven that opposed the study of the dark artes. We were all trained for specific dark ways to kill others, to control others.” Steff hesitated for a brief moment, her piece of chalk just hovering over the ground. She grabbed her rag and wiped out more of the runes. “None of us liked it. Dark arts… it’s tricky and buck wild. Oliver was taught how to control nerves, how to make them burst apart, even inside another living being. I was more traditional. I was supposed to raise their own dead friends and control them, or sever their arms and use those against them. The shock factor was supposed to be my real weapon.” 

As she talked the different hands that had been helping organize things, even the one that had been busy cleaning up from lunch moved  back to the wall where the rest were, going still. 

“Most of us escaped. Ran away. But for people like us, there’s no escaping The Forest. The majority of the apprentices just adapted our skills for other uses. Some of us never made it ‘out’. Either the use of dark arts caught up to them or they perished in the fights with the opposite coven.” She drew her piece of chalk along the floor, and her gaze seemed distant. “He never was afraid of his skills, just frustrated by what they were being used for. Oliver stayed long enough to master his ability and earn a title before leaving.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to you.” Jack let all the sincerity into his voice, carefully watching Steffs posture. 

“It’s okay. It’s been…” She paused in her work, looking up at the ceiling. “...I don’t know, five years? Maybe seven?” Steff glanced over to her cloak that was lying over a chair on the side of the room. Slowly one of the hands began to rise and move towards the lunch mess again. “We ended up starting our own kind-of coven. It’s a little more lowkey than that, but we all keep tabs on each other.” The conversation meandered off from there, and instead of a tense silence Steff talked lightly about who she went to for specific  magical items for spells. It was a bit more of an easy conversation that put Jack at ease. 

Around sunset Steff stood up with chalk dust all over hands and brushed them onto her pants. After having reorganized all the ingredients and runes a few dozen times she looked over her work one last time and nodded. 

“Alright then.” She snapped and a pair of hands rushed out the door, followed soon after by the grunts and complaints of Mark as he was shoved through the door. He looked frustrated until he saw the carefully made array on the floor. 

“We’re good to go then?” He asked, glancing up. In one of his hands he held his plaid jacket, which was soaking wet. It seemed, despite his attempts, it still had several stained spots on it. 

“I’m going to start. I thought you’d appreciate being here for it.” Mark nodded and pulled up a stool, carefully a few feet away from the edge of the chalk. Steff grabbed her cloak and twirled it back on around herself, securing it carefully and touching the large, smooth stone that held the two sides together. As she took several deep breaths, standing at the edge of the array, the stone began to glow. Lighting up and dimming with her breath and then changing to a rhythm of beats. A heartbeat. 

Then she stepped onto the circle, the chalk lighting up a bright gold. Any light through the windows quickly dimmed as the sun finished setting, the only source of light came from the illuminated runes. Jack took notice of plants as they began to glow, the herbs dispersing into dust that began to fly towards… towards him. It was only then that he noticed that even the ruins on his neck were glowing. 

Steff was mumbling words under her breath as she carefully walked on the designated circles that led like stepping stones towards Jack’s position, her hands glowing like she had dipped them into gold. When she stood right in front of him, still mumbling words, she gave him a  _ very _ hard stare and Jack did his absolute best to stand still. 

Then pain exploded from his neck, and he cried out. He could feel the blood pouring down from his neck, soaking his clothes. He looked up and he didn’t see Steff anymore, he saw  _ him. _ That creature that had done that to him. 

“No! No please! Leave me alone I-” He closed his eyes, curling in on himself as he prepared, as that thing raised the dagger high above him and… and then it was all gone. Slowly he blinked his eyes open. Jack was back in the present, Steff standing over him and looking at… at something with a critical eye. 

“Sorry about that.” She muttered. Everything was still glowing, and the plants were still slowly dispersing into golden dust, feeding into this complicated three dimensional array that was hovering over Jack, sprouting from his neck stump.  

“Woah.” Jack muttered, completely forgetting about the flashback. 

“Any luck?” Mark called from his perch on the stool. Steff shook her head and continued to adjust the position of the array, looking at it from several sides. Then she stiffened, look at something, in the dead center of the array, at something Jack couldn’t see. Instantly all the lights went out, leaving Jack with spots in his eyes in complete darkness. 

“What happened?” He asked, standing up. Steff was already moving, as his eyes adjusted to the dark he could see that she was grabbing a bag and heading towards the door, several hands hurriedly placing things in the bag as she walked. 

“Woah, slow down, where are you going?” Mark stood from his stool, knocking it over. Steff opened the door, and the moon framed her head. Her expression, Jack realized, was truly, and entirely, terrified. 

“I need to talk to The Wish.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! We're inching towards the actual plot :)
> 
> if you wanna see some art for this fic check my tumblr: the-east-art.tumblr.com


	5. You Did This To Me - Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark meets a Thing

Chapter 5

Mark

 

“Do you think she needed to… to charge the protection spells?” Jack was standing at the edge of Steff’s ‘front yard’, looking out at the path ahead of them. It was noon, it was bright, the sun was shining and birds were chirping. But somehow The Forest still managed to send waves of unease through them. A pair of hands were hovering protectively in front of Jack. After some brief experimentation earlier they found out the hands would give them gentle nudges if they started to step over the protective runes. The more they defied the hands, the harder it would be to fight back. Combined together Jack and Mark had managed to get  ten pairs of hands to come out and work on pushing them away. 

“I hope not.” The runes were still glowing dimly, just like they had been. Jack let out a briefly agitated noise as he lowered his head closer to the runes. 

“We’ll be sitting ducks if they die out.”

“I know.” Mark replied, frowning. 

“When do you think Steff will be back?” Mark glanced down the pathway  she had disappeared down. 

 

_ “I need to talk to The Wish.” Urgency filled her words and she readjusted the strap on her shoulder before turning back towards the door. Mark lunged forward and grabbed her arm. _

_ “Where are you going? What’s wrong?” Mark demanded, and he knew his words were coming out harsh but she couldn’t just leave like that. Couldn’t just leave him without a word of where she was going, when she would return, if ever. _

_ “You two are in over your heads.” In the background Jack managed a small ‘heh’. “The being that did that to Jack, it’s out of your depth. It’s out of  _ my  _ depth. I need to go and get the only person I know who stands a chance at keeping you two safe.” _

_ “Wait, ‘safe?’” Jack piped up. “I just need my head back on.”  _

_ “It’s more than that.” Steff fully faced Jack. “You’re his target now, and I doubt that he’ll stop until he has all of you.” Her words were chilling.  _

_ “As long as you two stay within the protections of the house and yard he shouldn’t be able to find you, at least not for a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can, but until then do not leave the yard.” She whipped back around and ran out of the house before Mark could stop her again. She took a few steps out, her feet leaving almost ripples in the grass before her entire form turned into a blend of gold and magenta light that shot off over the trees, out into the Forest, leaving Mark and Jack in the darkened house. _

 

“She made it sound like she was in a hurry.” Mark replied. It didn’t really answer the question, but he himself had been going through it in his head over the course of the day. Whoever she was looking for was probably important or something. Maybe like from a panel of wizards, he didn’t know. But judging by how they had a fancy title they’d probably be hard to get in contact with than, say, Oliver.

“Did you get a chance to see what’s down the other paths?” Jack asked as he rounded to the backyard.

“Not really. You already know the middle one goes to her garden and the right one… can we not go there?” 

“What is it?” Jack raised an eyebrow, taking a step or two towards the path. 

“There were just… lots of graves.” All the air seemed to deflate out of Jack.

“Oh, yeah.” 

“You don’t seem very surprised.” Jack shifted a little in place, looking at his shoelaces before finally turned back to Mark.

“I’m not sure I’m at liberty to say. It’s not really my story to tell but they’re… they were friends of Steffs.”

“Oh.” The words inadequately fell from Mark’s lips. 

“Let’s head back inside, I still feel like there’s something out there staring at us.” Jack glanced over his shoulder once before walking back to the house, Mark following after him. After Jack had mentioned it, suddenly Mark could feel it too, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. When they were both inside Mark turned and locked the door, putting the deadlock in place and shivering a little. 

“I’m going to start trying to see if I can find anything about the guards around the house.” Jack declared as he began scanning the bookshelf for anything that would be helpful. Mark gave a hum as a response. He walked to the other side of the house to help with the search. The section of the house as still covered in the chalk and the now empty bowls. Neither Jack nor Mark had dared touch any of it. Books were stacked on the floor, and Mark sat himself down and began to flip through them. 

The day edged on and on. Mark finished the stack of books - most of it went over his head but it all seemed applicable to the spell she had performed last night. Lots of stuff about the makeup of maps and of spells with lots of neat pictures that meant almost nothing to Mark. He stood up and stretched, giving a loud and drawn out yawn while he was at it.

“Any luck?” He walked over to Jack, who had an entire set up to let him read easier. His head was on it’s own little throne of pillows, letting his hand fumble with the shelf trying to grab a book, and then lowering it down to his head. He had been systematically going through the shelf, and had a few different piles of books surrounding him. 

“Mmmmmmmmaybe?” Jack hummed and he clumsily placed a book back on the shelf. “I kinda got a system going on here. From what I’ve been able to gather, if we do need to rejuvenate the runes, we’ll probably need some of that firewood you’ve been chopping.”

“I’ll go do that then.” It looked so serene outside. It was almost easy to forget that evil was lurking in the shadows of the forest. Mark spared a glance back inside the cabin before closing the door. He couldn’t get the image out of his head, when Jack suddenly started to scream out of nowhere, the cacophonous sound clashing painfully onto Mark’s ears. 

Mark shook his head a little to clear it, turning back to where the log pile was. 

“ **Hello** ” 

Mark startled at the voice, his heart going from a casual beat to violently pounding in his chest in an instant. There was a man there, leaning against the log pile. Staring at Mark. 

Or at least, Mark thought the man was staring at him. The man’s form kept on… shifting. Like static, like it moved in layers. It made it impossible to truly see the man’s face, or really any definitive features that he might have. Despite his heart attempting to beat out of his chest, Mark did his best to calm himself down. He was inside the runes. Maybe this was an acquaintance of Steff’s, like Oliver. 

“How did you get in here?” The words came out harsher than he had intended, barbed and defensive. 

“ **Do you recognize me?** ” 

Mark took a step back as the… the person advanced. Their forms, staticky, black, red and neon blue light coming off of them. As they moved the air around them seemed to flex and almost tear, leaving after images behind himself. 

“I- no?” Okay, so probably not a friend of Steff’s but that didn’t mean he was going to try and kill Mark maybe- Mark’s eyes caught on something off to the side. A section of the inlaid rune bricks were lying out on the grass, broken into pieces,magical energy sparking off of them. 

Mark looked from the runes to the man in front of him, a high pitched squealing sound beginning to prick at his ears the more he looked at him. Okay, so this man obviously was not good news. Mark tried not to glance at the house, not wanting to bring Jack into whatever was happening here.

“Have we met before?” Mark questioned. The man took another step forward, Mark took another step backwards. 

“ **You cannot hide from what you did.** ” It replied instead, and then it leapt at him. Instantly Mark reached for the nearest thing he could find, an axe that he had left laying out yesterday, and swung it around at the thing. The axe just phased through the things form, and the metal head disintegrated to dust. 

“Not good.” Mark muttered under his breath and dashed across the yard, carefully avoiding the house and bursting into the thick woods. He spared a glance behind him. The thing had abandoned all resemblance of an actual person, instead it was almost incomprehensible in its form and shape, red and blue bursting off of it as it violently surged forward. 

Mark’s breath was coming in rapid bursts. He could feel it getting closer. Getting lost in the woods wouldn’t do him much good, but clearly physical objects were pretty useless against the thing. 

Maybe…

Mark needed to make his way back to the house. 

 


	6. Fake it Til You Make It - Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *too little too late from stvfoe playing in the distance*

Chapter 6 LOG OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER. IT’S ANNOYING. I COULD RUIN YOUR LIFE RN

Jack

 

Within moments of Mark exiting there was a loud crack from outside, and Jack quickly put down the book he had been leafing through, clumsily picking up his head and rushing outside. It took him longer than he wanted to fumble with the door knob, trying to open it with one hand that was already slick with blood from his own head stump. 

“Mark?” Jack called out. The yard was empty, and Jack nervously circled around to the side of the house where the pile of logs were. It didn’t look like anything had been moved, but a few of the topmost logs had black handprints in them. “Mark?!” Jack called again, a little more frantically. His eyes roved over the small yard, trying to find traces of where his companion had gone. 

“What the…” Jack walked over to the inlaid ruin, which were flickering. Following the trail of runes he found a pair of runes, broken into pieces, rough magic sparking off of the. “Well flip.” Jack muttered, inspecting the runes and then looking out into the forest nervously. So basically they were sitting ducks at this point, and while Jack couldn’t see any proof of Mark being dragged off it didn’t bode well for what could have happened to him. 

Jack shifted uneasily. He could go after Mark, but then the chance of finding him in the middle of the forest was slim, and the odds of Jack successfully finding his way back safely even smaller. But he couldn’t leave Mark whatever had happened to him alone. Maybe if he-

“Get away!” Jack’s head lifted up so fast it felt like it gave him whiplash. Mark burst through the forest, eyes wide with fear, and rushed into the clearing. 

“Mark, where the heck-” Suddenly a loud thunderous noise came from the forest behind Mark, and the color seemed to slowly drain.

“ **Mark.”** A figure stepped out from the forest, it’s form unstable and constantly shifting, and Jack heard a high pitched sound. It spared a single glance at Jack, and for the barest moment it’s form seemed to almost stabilize. Red and blue waves came off of it, the only color in what had become a gray toned world around them. Glowing eyes pierced him. 

And then the moment was gone and the figure was this chaotic mess of lines and overlapping colors that rushed on Mark, completely overtaking him. A loud cry broke through Jack’s shock and disbelief. Somewhere in the writhing mass was Mark, and he needed help. 

“Hold on!” Jack called and with one hand grabbed two of the sparking bricks and ran at the thing. He let his head fall to the ground and blindly held out the two stones, hoping for… anything really. 

A loud shriek came from the being and Jack took that to mean that the sparks had hit him - his head was facing the wrong direction - and watched as the color slowly returned to the grass. Dropping the runed bricks he fumbled around for his head and righted his vision, turning towards Mark.

“Ah shit.” Jack mumbled. Mark was lying on the ground. Dark black streaks ran across his body, and even after Jack gently shook him a few times he remained unconscious. “Come on Mark.” Jack felt around Mark’s neck, and relief flooded him at the weak, but functioning, pulse. 

“Let’s… let’s get you inside.” Jack nervously shifted his own head from side to side before letting one arm hold it and reaching out with the other, gripping Mark’s body. “Hey! Hey can I get some help?!” Jack called and he struggled to make any headway. There was a brief pause before several hands rushed out of the cottage. As they moved bits of red and blue seemed to fall of them, a few of them even stopping for a moment to shake off the rest of it. Ah, so the creature must have stopped Steff’s magic somehow.

Several pairs of hands picked up Mark’s figure and quickly took him inside the cottage. Jack quickly grabbed the broken bricks and brought them in with him, sending a nervous glance over his shoulder. 

The hands had placed Mark in the side pocket bedroom, putting up a curtain separating the rest of the house from the beds.

“Okay, let me look at him.” Jack quickly ducked through the curtains, looking at Mark’s still figure. The black streaks had begun to fade, leaving instead faint bruises in their place, wrapping around Mark’s arms and his face. One of the hands was already preparing a damp towel to drape over his forehead. “I… you watch over him. Tell me if anything happens, I’ll do my best to deal with this.” Jack held up the two broken up rune bricks and one of the hands flashed him a thumbs up. 

Jack gently brought the curtains back together as he exited the pocket space, feeling as though he was stepping through a spiderweb crossing the threshold. Jack set down the brick pieces onto the table and turned his attention back to the books he had been analyzing before. 

“I know I saw something about them in here…” He muttered under his breath and he set everything back up so that he could manage to read and flip the pages of the books. It wasn’t ideal and was much slower going than if, say, his head was attached to his neck, but it got the job done. He had to rifle through a few of the books before he found the one that had been entirely devoted to broken runes - it had seemed less relevant at the time but now he was glad he had set it aside. 

“Okay…” He thumbed through until he found a page on broken runes tied to small objects. “Right… hey!” He called out and a pair of hands flew off the wall and came attentively to his side. “Can you get me these?” The hands picked up the book and skimmed over the page before dropping it to the floor and giving an okay sign. A few other hands flew into action as well, darting around the room and picking up different herbs and bottles, setting them down in front of Jack. 

“Thank the heavens Steff’s organized.” Everything was already labeled, so he wouldn’t  have to make any guesswork on what was what. Following the instructions was slow going as he had to keep readjusting where his head was. He did his best not to question where Steff could have gotten griffin blood (did his absolute best not to think of the poor griffin whose blood it was. Maybe there were blood donor griffins. Was that a thing here?). He ground the plants up and combined them together with just enough griffins blood that it was a gooey paste. 

“Alright, and then…” Jack once again moved his head so that he could see the book. “...apply to broken rune… did I just make magical super glue?” Jack dipped his hand into the bowl. “Uck, ew.” The past was surprisingly strong, and he had to work a bit to get the goo out of the bowl. He hovered over the two runes before calling for some help. A pair of hands held up the sparking bricks and Jack slapped the goo in between both halves, the hands slamming the runes together with a wet slapping sound and placing the rune back onto the table. 

Jack watched with somewhat baited breath as the rune brick flickered a few times before the light finally stabilized. Jack released a breath and grabbed the brick, hurrying outside and quickly putting it back into the ground. Jack flinched back, nearly dropping his head as all the surrounding runes lit up, producing a blindy glow before dying back down to their normal shine. 

“Okay, good.” Jack muttered. “So we should be good for now.” He looked out at the forest, at the wreckage that had followed Mark, and tried not to think about how that thing had made it through the barrier once, what was stopping it from doing it a second time. 

oOo

Jack spent the rest of his day watching over Mark, who had yet to wake, but the twisting bruises had almost completely disappeared. The hands had all returned to their resting position on the wall as Jack stirred the stew he was making for dinner, trying to distract himself from feeling trapped here and ignoring the worries of whether or not Steff would ever come back. 

Suddenly a pair of hands burst off the wall and went straight for the door, opening it a allowing for two figures to enter. The first one was Steff, looking tired and worn with a few new scratches on her. The second person Jack didn’t recognize. She was… well. She was beautiful. Short hair framing her face, sporting a few scratches as well, an elegant cloak billowing out from behind her. The clasp for her clock was a sun with a gemstone in the center emitting a low glow. Jack did his best to calm the rush of warmth on his face as her eyes turned to him. 

Her gaze  darted to his head (which Jack had strapped to his chest with a few dish towels to make cooking easier) to his neck stump, Jack suddenly became very self conscious about his current state. 

“You must be Jack then.” The woman offered her hand to Jack. Steff gave a small smile as a pair of hands took her cloak from her and handed off some bandages. 

“This is the  _ ar mian leo.  _ The Wish.” Steff introduced, and the woman gave a small laugh.

“Please Jack, you can just call me Signe.” Jack shook her hand. “Looks like you’ve had quite a rough week.”

“You could say that.” Jack replied, and then turned to Steff. “In fact I’ve had a bit of a rough day.” Steff paused, bandage half rolled around a cut on her arm. 

“What happened?” Jack debriefed Steff on the days events while Signe poked around the house. Steff took the information in quietly, nodding every now and then. 

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that alone. I’m surprised you two managed to fend the Darkness off.”

“The Darkness?” Jack questioned. “Do you two know what that thing was? And why did you need to get Signe? What’s going on?” Steff and Signe exchanged a look.

But before either of them could reply there was a small crash from behind the curtains of the pocket space bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is late and all i have are excuses. Thank you for reading tho! I hope you all are having a good day!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! Tell me what ya think! I'm super rusty with writing, it's been a long time since I've done fanfiction, but I really want to write this story, so I'm giving it another shot! 
> 
> you can check out my art for this story over here!
> 
> http://the-east-art.tumblr.com/tagged/headless-jack-au


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